Garza Too Much, Phils Two-Hit

When a pitcher is hot, he is hot. We have seen time and time again Roy Halladay go lights out on opponents. The same thing happened today against the Phillies in the form of Matt Garza.

Garza pitched seven innings of one hit ball against a struggling Phillies offense looking to finish April above .500. With this 5-1 loss the Phillies are 10-12 with one more game to play in the opening month.

Tough Hitting – Jimmy Rollins started the game off with a hit. The Phillies didn’t get another base runner until the seventh (a Juan Pierre walk), and their second hit didn’t come until a Hunter Pence single in the ninth.

Ailing April – This will be the first April since 2007 the Phillies will open the season with a losing record in the opening month. The Phillies are seventh in the NL in hitting and have the fourth best ERA. Those numbers alone should lead to more wins.

K’ed up Kendrick – Kyle Kendrick tied a career high with seven strikeouts in six innings of work. He did give up three runs (two earned) and lowered his ERA to 6.59. His fastball was topping out around 92-93, and he worked well out of most jams. He is no Cliff Lee, but if he ever gets some run support the Phillies should be able to win more when he pitches.

Looking for runs – Runs are not coming in bunches this season like they have in the past. In their first 22 games, the Phillies have scored a run or less eight times already and three runs or less 13 times. This pitching staff can handle giving up some runs, but the offense needs to step up.

Brighter days ahead – The Phillies can only hope Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are ready for some baseball soon. They could definitely use the help in the lineup. And fingers crossed on Cliff Lee’s oblique.

Next up – The Phillies series with the Cubs will conclude tomorrow before taking on NL East foes Atlanta, Washington and the Mets in the next three series.

ok, is it just me or are we the worst offense in the freakin league. and btw i don;t think getting utley and howard back is the answer. i know this may not be a popular view, but, we need a power hitter at 3rd base and left field on a regular basis…..not punch and judys

Totally agree with you Tommy, we need more hitting then the “piece” and Chase will provide if any, if they comeback at all. Amaro needs to make a trade soon that’s waiting to happen. Boston has a 3b named Will Middlebrooks who’s a monster hitter and tremendous fielder, but he’s blocked by Youkilitis. Trade Doc now for him and another top hitting prospect. Boston and anyother team would jump at the vision of having Doc in the rotation. This trade would add power to the lineup for many years to come (he’s 23yrs old), take care of the Polanco situation and free up the $$ for Cole’s longterm contract. RUBE MAKE IT HAPPEN NOW before Cole leaves and we still can’t hit.

i hear ya…i’d like them to package polanco with a pitcher but not sure of doc…but i hear ya. rube has been great but pull the trigger my man…. for god sakes the nats look good….we need to hit and score to compete. out………..

C – that is Insane. Ask yourself: would Detroit trade Verlander for Dom Brown? No? Then why would the Phillies do essentially the same thing?

Forget the downgrade from Halladay to Kendrick for a moment, although that’s obviously a gargantuan problem to try to overcome with the rest of the deal.

WIth the exception of his first 23 games this year, Middlebrooks has been a fair to pretty good hitter. He has a chance to be a decent player. But even Kevin Fransen had numbers at least as good early in his minor league career. OBPs of .331 and .328 in the minors (2010 and 11) do not typically translate to successful major league hitting.

And by the way, despite his poor hitting, Polanco was an above average third baseman overall last year, and is around average this year.

Perhaps Utley and Howard wont make a huge difference. However any difference would be appreciated. Perhaps when these guys come back they will inspire the rest of the lineup to produce. Yes i know drinking the kool aid but we dont have much hope. Perhaps this club can maintain a .500 average and perhaps make a trade for a legitimate hitter.

It was an awesome day for a baseball game. My grandson had a blast but mostly because Shane threw him a ball and he got a Phanatic piggy bank.
Other than that, even he said the worst game of the year. Pathetic. THe single that Rollins got in the first certainly wasnt any kind of solid hit, it was a blooper but we’ll take it. The hit that Pence got in the 9th was by sheer luck. A grounder that could not make it through the infield. When Pierre walked, he was thrown out trying to steal. It was bad, Garza was not overpowering, he did throw strike after strike but he did not seem unhittable. I say that mostly because when Doles came on in relief, the Phils could not touch this guy either. Marmol was another story. He walked 3 batters and at one point threw 6 balls in a row. Phils had the bases loaded when Vic grounded out to end the game. Other than Jimmy’s bloop single, the Phils could manage to hit 2 fly balls – Garza struck out 10 and the Phils hit 6 grounders right to the infielders. The Phils were unable to bunt, steal and fielding (Pence started to charge the ball then realized it was going to be over his head, again). Quite the boring game. I did make the call early on, I said that once JB & KK toss garbage they usually come back with something OK if not good. Giving up 3 runs (2 earned) in 6 innings for KK is a good showing.
Sure, Garza looked good but is he that good? I dont think so. Pathetic.

Sorry, one more prediction that came true. When Herndon came into the game in the 8th, I told the section I was sitting that he would probably give up 2 runs before he was done. And then Cholly put him back in the 9th? Not much more harm, 3 up and 3 down after the damage was done.

There was a time when a player came to the Phillies and he immediately improved.
Now it seems the opposite.

I heard Pence was shaky fielding but thus far this year it has been a disgrace. This team cant over come a right fielder who cant make simple plays.
Hes gotten worse defensively.
Also he comes in with the reputation as a free swinger. But the tutelage of the Phillies braintrust he is looking more and more like Ryan Howard every day. Looking ridiculous swining at crap.

I love when people say deal Polanco or Rollins or Utley or Howard. They have no value.

Utley and Howard you will pay 75% of their contract to play for another team. To free up 25% of their salary.
When the fans come to terms with what this team is they will feel better about it and enjoy it like I do.

@ Dipsy responding to what you asked yesterday. Yes I recieved an email asking me to curtail my posting. As a lot of the cry baby/kool aid drinking types ( guess who? lol) have issues with my blunt honesty. I guess they would rather have people telling them the Phillies offense is 14th in baseball and better than the Nationals. Sorry I am not capable of lieing to people to make friends and build support.

Maybe 3 hits will come tomorrow.
But every day this malaise continues the punchers chance I give this team becomes less and less. Need major changes.

You aren’t telling the whole story. When basically the same comment is posted seventeen or forty-three or however many times in one day, it’s not only annoying, but takes up a lot of space. Even if you were positive, saying the same thing over and over again would still clog up the site.

While some of what you say is “blunt honesty,” some of it is a bunch of opinionated B.S,
and more people were probably tired of seeing it a billion times daily than a you could ever possibly realize.

Schmenkman, to answer your question on my proposed trade, Middlebrooks is rated by Baseball America’s as the Red Sox’s #1 prospect, far from middling. His present stats after 85 ABS at Pawtucket: BA .365, HRs 9, RBIS 27, SBs 3, far from middling..he’s a terrific glove man and blocked on the Red Sox roster by Kevin Youkilis. The Sox would jump at this trade to get Doc. This would solve the Polanco problem (can”t hit anymore) and clear money (doc’s salary) to sign Cole longterm. If Rube doesn’t do something soon the P’s will lose Cole and probably Vicat the end of the year and still have no power even when the “the piece” comes back as he’ll have no one to protect him again.

I asked above, with Dom Brown still the Phillies’ best minor league talent, would the Tigers trade Justin Verlander for Brown? Of course the Red Sox would jump at the chance to get Halladay for Middlebrooks, just as the Phillies would love to get Verlander for Brown.

And the “Polanco problem” is overstated. Despite his poor hitting, Polanco was an above average third baseman overall last year:

A 10-12 record is not a disaster when you look back on their last 5 division winning seasons.
As Schmenkman pointed out in his comment:
After 22 games in…

2011: 15-7
2010: 12-10
2009: 12-10
2008: 11-11
2007: 10-12

There are 5 months and 140 game yet to be played. Remember Utley was on the DL last season and didn’t play until May 23rd I think. Of course, Howard being on the DL this season adds to the team’s burden in their struggle for runs. Great pitchinmg led by the best in Roy Halladay and the best defense in the league were the lifesavers for the team in winning another division title last year..

Patience is the key word here. I don’t pay attention to all the panicky posters here who desired immediate changes or fantasizing on trading someone like Halladay!! It’s good news to read that Utley and Howard will soon go to Clearwater, Florida and start their baseball drills.

As for the game played today, sure it’s disappointing and it’s tough to watch the team continues to struggle for runs.It was unfortunate that they faced a hot pitcher who had great command of his pitches. However, i know this team has basically the same core of players (Rollins, Victorino, Polanco, Pence and Ruiz) that have gone through these same situations in past seasons and found a way to recover and win out the season.

I must comment that as Manuel continues to make line-up changes, I do hope to see more of Orr at 2nd base. Galvis is a rally killer with his anemic hitting. His BA has plummeted to a sickly .194. Utley..please hurry back so Manuel can put Galvis on the bus to Lehigh Valley.

When we look at division winning teams that had bad records after a month, these were examples of GOOD teams playing poorly. This is not the case with the Phils. They have a bad offense playing right where they should be playing. This is not a sleeping giant getting ready to awake. They’re just sleeping.

Schmenk – Its a lot easier for the so so hitters to hit when the studs are in the lineup (Utley, Howard). When pitchers aren’t worried about Howard or Utley knocking guys in, the guys in front (Rollins, Pence, etc), get slop to hit because pitchers don’t have to worry about them being on base….because there is no one to knock them in. HENCE, perhaps we can’t expect these guys to hit up to those projections. Comments?

That wouldn’t explain Pence, but as for the others, the concept of “protection”, which is what you’re referring to here, has been studied. i.e. batters getting better pitches to hit when there are more “feared” hitters behind them:

Schmenk – I hate to break this one out on ya, but, “I played baseball”. If you don’t have RBI guys in the middle of the order, the top of the order guys gets less fastballs to hit. That much is a fact. Now, if the top of the order guys can hit the breaking ball as good or better than a fastball, then that would in fact “debunk” the theory as to a particular hitter (s). To my way of thinking.

I am just going to state one thing compared to last year what is the difference on this team. No Raul who had a terrible April if I remember correctly. And no Ryan Howard, which prove to all you Ryan Haters that he is was the biggest offensive impact player on this team. The Phillies have proven in the past to be able to win with out Chase, JRoll and even Vic, with a bench that statisticly was worse then the bench they have this year. But with out Ryan this year they are going to be under 500 for April. I still think that the Phillies can play most of May with out panicing. And the next three series are huge even though it is only May